Sligo–Leitrim was a parliamentary constituency in Ireland which was represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas. The method of election was the Single transferable vote form of proportional representation (PR-STV).

The constituency existed from 1948 to 2007, initially electing five deputies (Teachtaí Dála, commonly known in English as TDs) and covering the entire area of the County Sligo and County Leitrim, in Connacht. Its boundaries were significantly revised in 1961, 1969 and 1977 when the number of seats was reduced to four and then three. From 1977 to 1981 it included parts of County Donegal, but from 1981 until its abolition in 2007 it was again a 4-seat constituency, covering the whole of both counties including the towns of Sligo and Carrick-on-Shannon and many other areas. In 2002, the constituency had an electorate of 70,460 and returned four TDs.

The constituency was abolished for the 2007 general election, when it was replaced by two new constituencies: Roscommon–South Leitrim and Sligo–North Leitrim.

Contents 1 Boundaries 2 TDs 3 Elections 3.1 1997 general election 3.2 2002 general election 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Boundaries

The Sligo–Leitrim constituency was created under the Electoral (Amendment) Act 1947, and first used for the 1948 general election. It replaced the two previous constituencies of Sligo and Leitrim, which had been created for the 1937 general election, when they replaced the 1923–1937 Leitrim–Sligo constituency

Its size and representation were revised on several occasions, summarised in the following table:

Boundary changes to the Sligo–Leitrim constituency

Years	TDs	Boundaries	Law	Notes
1947–1961	5	The full territory of both counties.[1]	Electoral (Amendment) Act 1947	Constituency created
1961–1969	4	All of County Sligo, and all of County Leitrim except for those areas which were included in the Roscommon constituency.[2]	Electoral (Amendment) Act 1961	Adjustments to maintain voter-to-seat ratio at near national average. Most of the Carrick-on-Shannon and Mohill areas now in the Roscommon constituency.
1969–1977	3	All of County Sligo; and all of Leitrim, except the parts in the constituencies of Donegal–Leitrim and Roscommon–Leitrim.[3]	Electoral (Amendment) Act 1969	Large parts of County Leitrim moved to the two new neighbouring constituencies
1977–1981	3	All of County Sligo; in County Donegal, all of the Bundoran area and part of Ballyshannon; in County Leitrim, parts of the Kinlough and Manorhamilton districts.[4]	Electoral (Amendment) Act 1974	Major revision as part of the "Tullymander". Constituency is now effectively Sligo – Southmost Donegal and the small area of North Leitrim which was in the old Donegal–Leitrim constituency
1981–1987	4	The full territory of both counties..[5]	Electoral (Amendment) Act 1980	Restored to 1948 boundaries.
1992–2002	4	The full territory of both counties.[6][7][8][9]	Electoral (Amendment) Act 1990, Electoral (Amendment) Act 1995, Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1998	No changes
2007	—	Constituency abolished.[10]	Electoral (Amendment) Act 2005	The two counties now represented through the constituencies of Roscommon–South Leitrim and Sligo–North Leitrim

[edit] TDs

Teachtaí Dála (TDs) for Sligo–Leitrim 1948–2007[11]
Key to parties   FF = Fianna Fáil ·   FG = Fine Gael ·   Ind = Independent ·   Lab = Labour Party
Dáil	Election	Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)		Deputy (Party)
13th	1948[12]		Eugene Gilbride (FF)		Stephen Flynn (FF)		Mary Reynolds (FG)		Joseph Roddy (FG)		Bernard Maguire (Ind)
14th	1951[13]										Patrick Rogers (FG)
15th	1954[14]										Bernard Maguire (Ind)
16th	1957[15]								John Joe McGirl (SF)		Patrick Rogers (FG)
	1961 by-election				Joseph McLoughlin (FG)
17th	1961[16]						James Gallagher (FF)		Eugene Gilhawley (FG)	4 seats 1961–1969
18th	1965[17]
19th	1969[18]		Ray MacSharry (FF)					3 seats 1969–1981
20th	1973[19]						Eugene Gilhawley (FG)
21st	1977[20]				James Gallagher (FF)
22nd	1981[21]				John Ellis (FF)		Ted Nealon (FG)		Joe McCartin (FG)	4 seats 1981–2007
23rd	1982 (Feb)[22]								Matt Brennan (FF)
24th	1982 (Nov)[23]				Joe McCartin (FG)
25th	1987[24]				John Ellis (FF)
26th	1989[25]		Gerry Reynolds (FG)
27th	1992[26]		Declan Bree (Lab)
28th	1997[27]		Gerry Reynolds (FG)				John Perry (FG)
29th	2002[28]		Marian Harkin (Ind)						Jimmy Devins (FF)
30th	2007	Constituency abolished: see Sligo–North Leitrim and Roscommon–South Leitrim

Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.

[edit] Elections

[edit] 1997 general election

1997 General Election: Sligo–Leitrim[27]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Fianna Fáil	John Ellis	7,051	15.6	2	5
	Fine Gael	Gerry Reynolds	6,743	14.9	4	6
	Fianna Fáil	Matt Brennan	6,461	14.3	1	5
	Fine Gael	John Perry	5,786	12.8	3	6
	Labour Party	Declan Bree	4,905	10.9
	Fianna Fáil	Margaret Forde	4,738	10.4
	Fine Gael	Joe Leonard	4,016	8.9
	Sinn Féin	Seán MacManus	3,208	7.1
	Christian Solidarity	John Lacken	1,359	3.0
	Progressive Democrats	Jim Lawlor	745	1.6
	Natural Law	Simon Gillan	154	0.3
Electorate: 64,770   Valid: 45,166   Spoilt: 452   Quota: 9,034   Turnout: 70.4%

[edit] 2002 general election

2002 General Election: Sligo–Leitrim[28]
Party		Candidate	1st Pref	%	Seat	Count
	Independent	Marian Harkin	8,610	17.58	1	4
	Fine Gael	John Perry	6,897	14.08	2	6
	Fianna Fáil	Jimmy Devins	6,307	12.88	3	6
	Fianna Fáil	John Ellis	6,434	13.14	4	7
	Fine Gael	Gerry Reynolds	6,192	12.58
	Fianna Fáil	Eamon Scanlon	6,345	12.96
	Sinn Féin	Seán MacManus	5,001	10.21
	Labour Party	Declan Bree	2,429	4.96
	Independent	Andy McSharry	303	0.62
	Independent	Martin Forde	203	0.41
	Christian Solidarity	John Lacken	166	0.34
	Independent	John McCrea	114	0.23
Electorate: 70,460   Valid: 48,971   Spoilt: 523   Quota: 9,795   Turnout: 70.24%

[edit] See also

• Parliamentary constituencies in the Republic of Ireland
• Politics of the Republic of Ireland
• List of Irish by-elections
• Elections in the Republic of Ireland
• 1981 Irish hunger strike (hunger striker Joe McDonnell narrowly missed election in Sligo–Leitrim in 1981)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Oireachtas Members Database

v • d • e Parliamentary constituencies in County Sligo and Borough Parliament of Ireland to 1800 Sligo Borough (1614–1800) · Sligo County (????–1800) Westminster 1801–1922 and First Dáil 1918 Sligo County (1801–1885) · Sligo Borough (1801–1870) · North Sligo (1885–1922) · South Sligo (1885–1922) Dáil Éireann 1918–present Sligo–Mayo East (1922–1923) · Leitrim–Sligo (1923–1937) · Sligo (1937–1948) · Sligo–Leitrim (1948–2007) · Sligo–North Leitrim (2007– ) European Parliament 1979–present Connacht–Ulster (1979–2004) · North–West (2004– ) Irish counties: Carlow · Cavan · Clare · Cork · Donegal · Dublin · Galway · Kerry · Kildare · Kilkenny · Laois · Leitrim · Limerick · Longford · Louth · Mayo · Meath · Monaghan · Offaly · Roscommon · Sligo · Tipperary · Waterford · Westmeath · Wexford · Wicklow

v • d • e Parliamentary constituencies in County Leitrim Parliament of Ireland to 1800 Carrick (1614–1800) · Jamestown (????–1800) · Leitrim (????–1800) Westminster 1801–1922 and First Dáil 1918 Leitrim (1801–1885) · North Leitrim (1885–1918) · South Leitrim (1885–1918) · Leitrim (1918–1922) Dáil Éireann 1918–present Leitrim–Roscommon North (1921–1923) · Leitrim–Sligo (1923–1937) · Leitrim (1937–1948) · Sligo–Leitrim (1948–2007) · Donegal–Leitrim (1969–1977) · Sligo–North Leitrim (2007– ) · Roscommon–South Leitrim (2007– ) European Parliament 1979–present Connacht–Ulster (1979–2004) · North–West (2004– ) Irish counties: Carlow · Cavan · Clare · Cork · Donegal · Dublin · Galway · Kerry · Kildare · Kilkenny · Laois · Leitrim · Limerick · Longford · Louth · Mayo · Meath · Monaghan · Offaly · Roscommon · Sligo · Tipperary · Waterford · Westmeath · Wexford · Wicklow